The new 51st State of America

davet82

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4633656/Puerto-Rico-votes-in-favour-of-becoming-51st-state-of-the-US.html

THE SUN-kissed Caribbean island of Puerto Rico has voted to officially become America's 51st state.

The holiday hotspot's population of four million people voted in their masses this week to join the USA.

i wonder is we could do the same :P

good for them if it improves their country/state

MagicMarker

News just in, gunman opens fire in a highschool in Puerto Rico.

Larbre34

That'll be some amount of money needed for flags with a 51st star

hardCopy

Larbre34 wrote: »

That'll be some amount of money needed for flags with a 51st star

"I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missourah."

Looks like the vote wasn't that clear: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/puerto-rico-state-reasons-will-not-become-51st-state_n_2095366.html#slide=1739512

Mr.Crinklewood

I thought we were in a state already.

RikkFlair

Certain parts of Ireland could be the 52nd state, they've already like OMG totally got the accent down maaaaaaaaaan.

Wacker The Attacker

Isnt this dependent on the u.s actually wanting puerto rico as a 51st state

El Weirdo

Do they get their own Samuel L Jackson?

snubbleste

Larbre34 wrote: »

That'll be some amount of money needed for flags with a 51st star

I'm going to open a flag-making factory. Hopefully the government will offer me a grant for this, a grant for that and charge me 2% corporate tax.

artanevilla

I think it's dependent on whether congress or the senate or whatever approves.

Green Diesel

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

Isnt this dependent on the u.s actually wanting puerto rico as a 51st state

Yes, but they have never refused accession to their territory before, and Peurto Ricans already have US citizenship (since 1917).

humanji

Anyone notice in the Sun link, one of the photos has a guy holding a flag with "Proud To Be An American" and a picture of Ferris Bueller on it?

Rasmus

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

Isnt this dependent on the u.s actually wanting puerto rico as a 51st state

No, it is dependant on whether PR wants to become a fully fledged state of the U.S.

seamus

Rasmus wrote: »

No, it is dependant on whether PR wants to become a fully fledged state of the U.S.

It actually needs to be approved by congress, or the senate, or maybe both, and the president.

After all, we could vote to become a protectorate of France tomorrow, but France don't have to accept it.

davet82

is there any other country that has a relationship like this with the US?

first time i've ever heard of this

Larbre34

Yeah that movie, and all the people who use the phrase 51st state to describe Britain or Ireland will have to change things in their lives. Ha ha.

Rasmus

seamus wrote: »

It actually needs to be approved by congress, or the senate, or maybe both, and the president.

After all, we could vote to become a protectorate of France tomorrow, but France don't have to accept it.

Ultimately, of course. Which is a while off. I don't think that was actually the question though.

davet82

seamus wrote: »

It actually needs to be approved by congress, or the senate, or maybe both, and the president.

After all, we could vote to become a protectorate of France tomorrow, but France don't have to accept it.

From what i gather from the articles i've read indicates its a green light if the overwhelming majority show to be in favour of joining the union.

Rasmus

davet82 wrote: »

is there any other country that has a relationship like this with the US?

first time i've ever heard of this

Most similar would be Guam

Azure_sky

Yeah that's all we need. Over 50% of the population believing the world is less than 6,000 years old and more corporate welfare.

Dodge

davet82 wrote: »

is there any other country that has a relationship like this with the US?

first time i've ever heard of this

THere's a few like Guam, American Samoa and US Virgin islands. All in various states (if you'll pardon the pun) of US depndency/ownership

hardCopy

seamus wrote: »

It actually needs to be approved by congress, or the senate, or maybe both, and the president.

After all, we could vote to become a protectorate of France tomorrow, but France don't have to accept it.

Don't be absurd.

We'd clearly have to join Brazil.

Dodge

The bits and pieces I've read from the US side seem to show that Republicans aren't overly enthused about what they see as a clearly democrat leaning state being admitted to presidential elections

As of now they can't vote in Presidential elections (but they do participate in the primaries)

davet82

Dodge wrote: »

The bits and pieces I've read from the US side seem to show that Republicans aren't overly enthused about what they see as a clearly democrat leaning state being admitted to presidential elections

As of now they can't vote in Presidential elections (but they do participate in the primaries)

they'd probably be only worth 4 electoral votes anyways

seamus

davet82 wrote: »

From what i gather from the articles i've read indicates its a green light if the overwhelming majority show to be in favour of joining the union.

Well it appears to be up in the air. It's a non-binding referendum, which means that the government are not obliged to do anything about the result, a straw poll if you will. They can present this to the US government, who can accept it. But it's a bit flimsy.

It doesn't mean though that the outcome is invalid. Actual majority in such instances is rarely required - the Irish Constitution for example, was only approved by 39% of the electorate.

The most likely outcome though is that the US government will probably send PR back to take a binding referendum, on a day when they're not voting on anything else.

Dodge

davet82 wrote: »

they'd probably be only worth 4 electoral votes anyways

It'd 7 (if they added new votes) as their population would make them in the top 30 most pupulated states. And they'd have new congressmen and senators too. At the moment loal politicians are in Puerto Rico specific parties.

davet82

Dodge wrote: »

It'd 7 (if they added new votes) as their population would make them in the top 30 most pupulated states. And they'd have new congressmen and senators too. At the moment loal politicians are in Puerto Rico specific parties.

top 30, who'd have thought

i guess them being accepted into the union would be depending on which party is in power at the time then

mike65

Judging by the number of people who can't spell programme we already are the 51st state.

Dodge

davet82 wrote: »

top 30, who'd have thought

i guess them being accepted into the union would be depending on which party is in power at the time then

Maybe, but I don't think they could get away with "they're the other side" being the reason to say no. I'd expect them to use economic and maybe even social reasons ("they don't speak English!" etc)

Interesting to see how it develops

jester77

I thought I read that too many people intentionally didn't vote on this to make it official and that the %'s being quoted are only based on those that did vote.

Remmy

Oh no they didn't *clicks fingers and moves head from side to side.

stmol32

From the article: "The island - a popular British tourist destination - has officially been a US territory since 1898 and its citizens enjoy trading in dollars and unlimited US travel."

Is she being a fool and getting mixed up with Puerto Rico in the canaries?